One approach to the treatment of cancer is chemotherapy in which one or more chemical substances that are toxic, or otherwise deleterious, to the cancerous cells are administered to an individual suffering from cancer. Unfortunately, most, if not all, chemotherapeutic agents cause undesirable effects that adversely affect the health of the patient.
By way of example, the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum) is a heavy metal complex, with platinum as the central atom surrounded by two chloride atoms and two ammonia molecules in the cis position. Cisplatin produces interstrand and intrastrand crosslinkage in DNA of rapidly dividing cells, thus preventing DNA, RNA, and/or protein synthesis.
Cisplatin is typically used (often in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents, such as paclitaxel, cyclophosphomide, vinblastine, doxorubicin and bleomycin) to treat patients having metastatic testicular tumors, metastatic ovarian tumors, carcinoma of the endometrium, bladder, head, or neck. Unfortunately, cisplatin causes numerous adverse effects, such as seizures, peripheral neuropathies, ototoxicity, hearing loss, deafness, vertigo, dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, constipation, myelosuppression, thrombocytopenia, anemia, neutropenia, and nephrotoxicity.
Thus, there remains a need for compositions and methods that ameliorate or eliminate the undesirable effects of chemotherapy. In particular, there remains a need for compositions and methods that ameliorate or eliminate one or more, or all, of the undesirable effects of cisplatin chemotherapy.